BCM310: BCM310: Emerging Issues in Media and Communication, Chapter 5 The The future of journalism: not just a business problem

In the Fifth week, for BCM310, we discussed what journalism is, the future of journalism, its effects on the public sphere and how social media affect journalism and finally how the rise of citizen journalism impacts media and communications and vice-versa.

To my understanding, journalism is the art of creating, communicating, and updating news and/or information. It is an ongoing process which can never be suppressed, that is its greatest virtues and faults. Its virtues are obvious as it enables information to be propagated to the relevant parties. With the internet as a popular channel of journalism, news is so easily dispersed. Also, the identity of the journalist has transformed from that of a professional nature to that of the lay man. Citizen journalists are your regular individuals, who, though not professionally trained are capable of generating and dispersing news to a global audience. He is equally effective in influencing others. Herein lies the fault of journalism. Imagine an untrained, irresponsible citizen journalist posting blueprints of weapons or bombs on the internet. This can cause mayhem.

Before the internet age, with small and closely knit social networks, reporting and journalism had a limited reach, occurring via direct interaction among community members orally (Hennig-Thurau et. al 2010, pp311-330; Chen 2012, pp1-7). Individual and situational factors affect access to and observation of events, as well as the screening of information (Domingo et. al 2008, pp326-342; Chen 2012, pp1-7). Additionally, some community members might be excluded from news or get a distorted version of it.

Today, with the wide-reaching ‘tentacles’ of the new media a whole new global range of consumers has access to a ginormous pool, of proactive and real-time knowledge made by journalists worldwide. This has encouraged newspapers to explore newsroom convergence. Journalists have also embraced the new media as they enable journalists to better understand their consumers, thanks to increased consumer interactions (Hennig-Thurau et. al 2010, pp311-330; Lazaroiu 2010, pp264–272).

The shift from print to online newspapers, and the rise of participatory journalism has shattered the boundaries between print, broadcast and online media and altered the definitions of professional journalism, lending a new dimension to it (Domingo et. al 2008, pp326-342; Salman et. al 2011, pp1-11). In my opinion, this has resulted in a total disregard for the professional codes of journalism.

Previously, news organizations treated journalism as a profession and as a means of dispersing information through breaking news or entertainment channels like animation, reality shows, talk shows and music TV series (MTV). Today, spurred by increased citizen journalism, they have veered towards disseminating information, rather than making a career out of it.

These are exciting and challenging times for journalism and the media. Galvanized in part by global technological and economic uncertainty, journalism is experiencing a turbulent change. John V. Pavlik opines that the long-term success of the news media in this digital era is contingent to innovation, guided by four principles: intelligence or research; a commitment to freedom of speech; a dedication to the pursuit of truth and accuracy in reporting; and ethics (Pavlik 2013, pp181-193). He contends that early innovations by news media leaders that adhere to these principles are successful in attracting audience and generating digital revenue (Pavlik 2013, pp181-193).